Shanxi (Chinese 山西, pinyin Shānxī) is a province in the north of
the People's Republic of China. It is occasionally confused with its
western neighbouring province Shaanxi (Chinese 陝西 / 陕西, pinyin
Shǎnxī), as the pronunciation of the names differs only in the tone
of the first syllable.
Because of its location west of the
Taihangshan Mountains, the province is called Shānxī, which means
west of the mountains. The abbreviation of the province is Jin (晉 /
晋). Jin is the name of an ancient Chinese state that was located in
the Shanxi region.
Shanxi is surrounded by the provinces of Hebei, Henan and Shaanxi as well as Inner Mongolia.
Changzhi (長治市, Pinyin: Chángzhì Shì)
Datong (大同市, Pinyin: Dàtóng
Shì) the second largest city in the province, close to the border with
Inner Mongolia province. Starting point for visits to the Yungang
Grottoes, the Hanging Monastery, the oldest wooden pagoda in China in
Yingxian or to the northern remains of the Great Wall.
Jincheng
(晋城市晉城市, Pinyin: Ìnchéng Shì)
Jinzhong ({晋中市晉中市, Pinyin: Jìnzhōng
Shì)
Linfen (临汾市臨汾市, Pinyin: Línfén Shì)
Lüliang (吕梁市/呂梁市, Pinyin:
Lǚliáng Shì)
Pingyao (平遙市, Pinyin: Píngyáo Shi)
Shuozhou (朔州市,
Pinyin: Shuòzhōu Shì)
Taiyuan (太原市, Pinyin: Tàiyuán Shì) Capital of
the northern Chinese province of Shanxi is today an important industrial
location in northern China. The most important industries are coal
mining, iron smelting and the production of stainless steel and
aluminum. With its modern city center and various sights, it is not just
the starting point for trips to Wutai Shan.
Xinzhou (忻州市, Pinyin:
Xīnzhōu Shì)
Yangquan (阳泉市陽泉市, Pinyin: Yángquán Shì)
Yuncheng
(运城市運城市, Pinyin: Yùnchéng Shì)
Various monuments are scattered across Heng Shan. The most famous is
the Hanging Monastery,
which was built near the Golden Dragon Pass on a steep rock face 30
meters above the valley floor. The monastery, which was built in the 6th
century, consists of 40 small halls and pavilions. The buildings are
supported by beam structures anchored in rock crevices.
16 kilometers
southwest of Datong are the
Yungang Grottoes,
known for their cave temples with numerous Buddhist statues from the 5th
and 6th centuries. As an outstanding example of Buddhist cave and
stonemasonry art, the Yungang Grottoes have been a UNESCO World Heritage
Site since 2001.
The city of Pingyao, 80 kilometers southwest of
Taiyuan, is best known for its well-preserved cityscape from the Ming
and Qing dynasties. In 1997, Pingyao was added to the UNESCO World
Heritage List.
The Wutai Mountains are the highest elevation in the
province. The mountains are considered the residence of the Bodhisattva
of Wisdom Manjushri and are the most important of the four sacred
mountains of Chinese Buddhism.
Wutai Shan. The "Five Terraces Mountain" is a mountain range in
northern China. It is of great importance for Buddhism and is considered
one of the four holy mountains of Buddhism, along with Emei Shan, Putuo
Shan and Jiuhua Shan. In June 2009, Wutai Shan was added to the UNESCO
World Heritage List.
Pingyao. A medium-sized city in Shanxi Province
in China with around 42,000 inhabitants, located around 80 kilometers
southwest of the provincial capital Taiyuan. In Europe, the city is
known above all for its Ming-era cityscape, which was also added to the
UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997.
Shanxi lies in the east of the loess plateau between the North China
Plain and the middle course of the Yellow River, which borders the
province to the west and south. In the north, the Great Wall of China
runs along the border. Neighbouring provinces are Shaanxi to the west,
Henan to the south, Hebei to the east and Inner Mongolia to the north.
A large part of the province is higher than 1000 m above sea level.
The altitude decreases from northwest to southeast. The province is
diversely structured with mountains, hills and plains. Mountains make up
67.5% of the area of the province. The Taihangshan (up to 2322 m)
dominates in the west. In addition, the Hengshan (up to 2017 m),
Wutaishan (up to 3058 m), Taiyueshan (up to 2567 m) and Zhongtiaoshan
(up to 2322 m) mountains extend from north to south. In the middle of
the province there is a lower-lying region, the Middle Shanxi Basin,
which was formed by faults running north-south. It includes the river
valleys of the Datong, Xinzhou, Taiyuan, Linfen and Yuncheng rivers,
which gradually descend from 1000 metres to 250 metres. In the west of
Shanxi there is a plateau dominated by the Lülianshan. This area is
heavily erosed, so there are numerous steeply cut valleys.
The
climate in Shanxi is cold and dry. The average annual temperature is
around 5 °C in the north and around 15 °C in the south. The frost-free
period lasts about four months in the north and about seven months in
the south. Annual precipitation increases from northwest to southeast
and is 350 to 700 mm. About 60% of precipitation occurs in summer.
Important rivers are the Yellow River, Fen He, Sanggang He and Hutuo
He.
Xujiayao 6 (XJY 6) from the Suijiyao site, dated to 200,000–160,000
BP, had a brain volume of ≈1,700 cm³ (95% confidence interval
1,555–1,781 cm³). This is close to Xuchang 1 from Henan, dated to
125,000–105,000 BP (≈1,800 cm³).
Twenty human bones and teeth
dated to 104,000–125,000 BP were found at the Suijiyao site. Skull scans
of Xujiayao-15 showed that it had a typical Neanderthal inner ear.
Remains of the Neolithic Yangshao culture (5th-3rd millennia BC) and
monuments of material culture of the Yin period (16th-11th centuries BC)
have been found in the territory of Shanxi.
The lands of modern
Shanxi province are associated in legends with the lives and activities
of the first Chinese rulers: Emperor Yao (whose residence is associated
with Yaodu), Shun (whose capital is located in the territory of modern
Yongji), the founder of the Xia dynasty Yu and his son Qi (who allegedly
built his capital on the lands of modern Xia County).
During the
Spring and Autumn period, these lands were mostly part of the Jin
kingdom, and therefore the word "Jin" has since been used to designate
these lands. In 403 BC. Three families divided the Jin, as a result of
which the Spring and Autumn period was replaced by the Warring States
period, and in place of the Jin state, three new states arose: Zhao
(with the initial capital in Jinyang), Wei (with the initial capital in
Anyi), and Han (with the capital in Pingyang).
After the Qin state conquered all the other states and created the
first centralized empire in Chinese history, the country was divided
into 36 jun (郡) counties, of which five were located on the lands of
modern Shanxi province: Yamen (雁門郡), Daijun (代郡), Taiyuan (太原郡),
Shangdang (上党郡) and Hedong (河東郡).
During the Western Han Empire,
these lands were mostly included in Binzhou Province (并州), and the
number of counties increased from five to nine. During the Eastern Han
era, these lands were included in Jizhou Province (冀州). During the Three
Kingdoms era, these lands were part of the Wei state, where Binzhou
Province was re-established. When the country was united under the Jin
Empire, the lands of modern Shanxi Province were part of Binzhou
Province, and partially of Sizhou (司州).
In 304, the Hun Chanyu Liu Yuan rebelled in Zuoguo and proclaimed
himself the Prince of Han. Having conquered a significant part of the
Jin Empire lands, he created the Northern Han state. In 330, Shi Le
created the Later Zhao state, which conquered the territory of modern
Shanxi. Then these lands were part of the states of Ran Wei, Former Yan,
Former Qin, and Later Qin. In 383, Murong Yong of the Western Yan state
created the Jianxing County (建兴郡, in modern Jincheng) here and
proclaimed himself emperor, but already in 386, Tuoba Gui created the
Northern Wei state with its capital in Pingcheng, which attempted to
unite northern China under its rule. In 534, the Northern Wei split into
the Western Wei and the Eastern Wei, and in 550, Northern Qi was formed
on the site of the Eastern Wei, with its main capital in Yecheng in
modern Hebei Province and its auxiliary capital in Jinyang. However,
Northern Qi was soon conquered by Northern Zhou, which, after unifying
the country, changed its name to the Sui Empire. Sui, Tang, and the Five
Dynasties
At the end of the Sui Dynasty, Li Yuan, who commanded the
garrison in Taiyuan, rebelled, which resulted in the Sui Empire being
replaced by the Tang Empire in 618. During the Tang Dynasty, Taiyuan
became the northern capital of the empire, and since five of the
empire's 18 salt-producing regions were located here, the lands of
modern Shanxi acquired extreme importance for the country's economy.
Three of the future Tang emperors learned the art of governance in their
youth as governors of the Zezhou region.
During the Five
Dynasties, these lands were part of the states of Later Tang, Later Jin,
and Later Han, and after the fall of Later Han, the remnants of the
northern and central lands of Shanxi existed for some time as the state
of Northern Han.
Under the Song Empire, the lands of modern Shanxi became part of
Hedong Province (河东路), and metallurgy began to actively develop here.
After the Mongol conquest, the provinces-lu formed in these places
were directly subordinate to the Central Secretariat.
On
September 25, 1303, one of the deadliest earthquakes in the history of
the Earth occurred here; more than 270 thousand people died.
After the lands were conquered from the Mongols by the Chinese Ming
Empire in 1368, Shanxi Province was created. Due to the importance of
the region, the founder of the empire, Zhu Yuanzhang, sent his sons to
these places as appanage princes: Zhu Gang became the Prince of Jin with
residence in Taiyuan, Zhu Gui became the Prince of Dai with residence in
Datong, Zhu Mo became the Prince of Shen with residence in Luan, and Zhu
Xunliao became the Prince of Xuanning with residence in Zezhou.
During the Qing Empire, 9 administrations were formed to govern Shanxi
Province, with 16 regions and 108 counties subordinate to them.
During the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, Yan Xishan, commander of the Taiyuan garrison, supported Yuan Shikai and, having become the military governor of Shanxi, established a regime of one-man dictatorship in the province. Shanxi Province, which became his fiefdom, was his main support during the warlord era, and after the war with Japan began, he stubbornly fought on its territory against Japanese troops. When civil war broke out in the country after the capitulation of Japan, Yan Xishan was unable to dislodge the communists from their strongholds in the mountains, but stubbornly held on to the main economic centers of the province. Shanxi Province finally came under the control of the Chinese communists in 1949 after the fall of Taiyuan.
In the mid-20th century, during the era of the "third front" as part of the policy of transferring the country's production capacities from the coast to the interior, the economy of Shanxi was actively developing. During the Cultural Revolution, Dazhai Village, Xiyang County, was hailed as a model for the entire country, which was expressed in the slogan "Learn from Daqing in industry, and from Dazhai in agriculture." Since 1988, the Taiyuan Space Launch Center has been operating in Kelan County, Xinzhou Prefecture.
At the district level, Shanxi is made up of eleven prefecture-level
cities (2020). At the county level, the province was divided into 117
administrative units in 2020: 26 urban districts, 11 county-level cities
and 80 counties. At the township level, there were 1,395 administrative
units in the same year: 207 street districts, 579 townships and 610
townships.
Population
The 2020 census recorded a permanent
population of 34,915,616 people. Compared to the previous census in
2010, the population had decreased by 796,495 people (−2.23%).
The 2002 census counted 32,368,083 members of the Han nationality, or
99.68% of the population. Other ethnic groups are the Hui with 0.19% of
the population, the Manchu with 0.04%, the Mongols with 0.03% and the
Miao with 0.01%.
Shanxi has very rich deposits of coal and other raw materials, such
as bauxite, copper, aluminum and sulfur. The coalfields make up 37
percent of Shanxi's area and contain a third of China's coal deposits
with 200 billion tons. Coal from Shanxi is exported and delivered to
more than 20 provinces, municipalities directly under the government and
autonomous regions. Steel production, mechanical engineering, the
chemical industry and the textile industry, with cotton exports, are
also important economic sectors. The transport of goods, especially
coal, takes place primarily via the Chinese rail network. Of the 20
largest freight stations in the People's Republic of China, measured by
the amount of goods loaded in tons, 15 were in Shanxi Province alone in
2012. Important hubs are Datong, where the Datong-Puzhou railway line
and the Datong-Qinhuangdao railway line begin, and the capital Taiyuan.
In agriculture, the cultivation of wheat, millet and gaoliang (高粱,
gāoliang, a type of sorghum millet that is often used to make a
high-proof liquor) in terraced farming are important, as is pig farming.
The gross domestic product in 2003 was 245.7 billion RMB and 7410
RMB per capita.
In June 2007, the police in Shanxi and Henan
freed hundreds of slave workers, including dozens of children, from coal
mines and brickworks. The majority were job seekers from rural areas in
Henan who had fallen into the clutches of illegal employment agents.
Taiyuan University of Technology
Shanxi University
Shanxi
Medical University